The Whip and the Carrot – Biz Lessons from the ICU, Part 6

Lesson Six: The Whip and The Carrot

In the email I sent last weekend, I made the statement: “When you make your customer experience about human connection and pay close attention to their entire experience, you win.”

Let’s take that idea one step further and make sure you win by a landslide …

Step One: Get your patients talking.

In your conversations with patients, tactfully and skillfully make sure your clients are telling you and your staff about their loved ones and the things they enjoy doing with them.

Especially make sure they acknowledge the things they enjoy but are limited in doing because of the thing/s you are treating.

I have found an incredible antidote to patients self-discharging and dropping off schedule that is directly related to the above: A mix of the “whip” and the “carrot.”

This tactic can easily add 5 or even 6-figures of revenue to a private practice.

The Whip = Their current state of suffering and the limitations they are experiencing with the things they need/love to do.

The Carrot = The goal of, and feelings associated with, doing those beloved activities without pain and limitations.

When you are staring treatment…

Early in the patient lifecycle when you’re just starting treatment and they have a ways to go before discharge, direct their focus mostly on the whip … their current limitations are still more present and mentally impactful than some ‘far-off’ goal of being pain-free or performing at 100%.

You can still sprinkle in some of the carrot by mentioning their long-term activity goals. It’ll help keep them excited about the long-term plan. However, getting out of their current state of suffering is more likely to keep them from self-discharge and dropping off schedule than if you only talk about a long-term goal that’s currently far away.

Important side note: Do Not focus on and talk a great deal about pain levels … everyone can live with a bit of pain and if you make these conversations only about pain, you’ll have really high schedule drop-offs once they get about 75% better (especially in an out-of-network practice).

When you are in the middle of treatment…

As you get them past 50% better, it’s not uncommon for people to start justifying why they are “good enough” and try to save money by “just seeing how I do with my home program.”

This is when it becomes very important to skillfully get them to focus on achieving 100% of their goals.

Ex: “I’m so pumped that you’ve gone from being limited to 2-mile runs to now doing 9-mile runs before your knee starts hurting, and I’m even more excited about getting you to the goal you gave me when we first met: a half marathon pain-free. I’m thinking we’re probably about 3-4 visits from getting to that point and I want to make sure we get you 100% there, so let’s book those now.”

Watch what happens to your drop-off rates once you implement the above tactic. Like I said above, practitioners who skillfully guide their patients to focus on the whip and the carrot will avoid losing a ton of money to self-discharges.

Want to Learn More?

This topic of minimizing patient drop-offs is just 1 of the 8 strategies I cover in my ongoing online training. This online training is free and the first in a series I plan to release in the future. It is an absolute MUST if you are looking for actionable advice for starting your cash-practice of transitioning out-of-network.

The other 7 topics and strategies I cover are:

“Make or Break” Mindset – find out if you have subconscious roadblocks that could keep you spinning your wheels even with perfect execution of everything below.

How to answer the “Do you take my insurance?” question with confidence and convert huge percentages to cash-pay customers.

The 3 components that turned my clinic’s website into my biggest business producer … on autopilot.

Marketing Foundations – keys to identifying and describing your ideal customer, and how to incorporate that into your marketing.

How to capitalize on your lowest hanging fruit by maximizing word-of-mouth referrals and stellar online reviews.

How to give $5-figure presentations/workshops that continue to produce business for years.

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